Shipping containers of many different types are used for protecting a variety of products transported from one location, typically a manufacturing plant, to another location. The type of materials used for such shipping containers varies considerably, depending upon the size of the item to be contained, the weight of the item being shipped, the means of transportation used, and the like. For heavy articles, wooden pallets and wooden shipping crates often are used. For long distance shipping, re-usable steel containers capable of holding a large number of articles, generally packed in smaller containers, frequently are used. For small, medium and some relatively large sized articles, corrugated cardboard or paperboard containers are in widespread use.
Corrugated cardboard shipping containers are relatively inexpensive, compared to other types of materials which can be used for boxes or containers and, typically, are designed for one-time use only. Once the product which is shipped in such a container reaches its final destination, the container is destroyed. For recipients of occasional articles packed in such corrugated cardboard containers, gosposal of the container normally can be accomplished without any great difficulty. Where products shipped in such containers, however, are received in large quantities, disposal of the shipping containers does constitute a significant problem.
A situation where the sheer bulk of large numbers of corrugated shipping containers constitutes a major waste disposal problem is in automobile assembly factories where, many of the parts to be assembled are fabricated in sub-assembly plants located at a distance from the assembly plant. The parts frequently are shipped in protective corrugated cardboard containers which must be broken down and disposed of at the receiving plant. The containers are quite bulky, large amounts of dust are created in flattening them down for disposal, and, finally, even though corrugated cardboard materials are "biodegradable," it has been found that when they are packed in landfills, relatively little deterioration takes place, even after many years.
Another problem which exists with corrugated cardboard shipping containers is that the container material (and therefore the contents) is relatively succeptable to damage from blows to the container walls. In addition, a limited number of filled corrugated cardboard containers can be stacked on top of one another, depending upon the weight or thickness of the container material.
It is desirable to provide a re-usable shipping container which has the advantages of corrugated cardboard or paperboard containers, but which is constructed in a manner to facilitate reuse of the container a large number of times before it becomes necessary to dispose of the container.